Numbers 14 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Numbers) Free Bible Online

Numbers 14

1 - All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 - All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, "We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!
3 - Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?"
4 - They said to one another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."
5 - Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 - Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
7 - They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
8 - If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
9 - Only don't rebel against The LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don't fear them."
10 - But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones.The LORD's glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
11 - The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
12 - I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."
13 - Moses said to The LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
14 - They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you the LORD are in the middle of this people; for you the LORD are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 - Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16 - 'Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.'
17 - Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
18 - 'The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.'
19 - Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
20 - The LORD said, "I have pardoned according to your word:
21 - but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with The LORD's glory;
22 - because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23 - surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.
24 - But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.
25 - Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea."
26 - The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27 - "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 - Tell them, 'As I live, says The LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you.
29 - Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
30 - surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 - But your little ones, that you said should be captured or killed, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32 - But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33 - Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.
34 - After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.'
35 - I, The LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die."
36 - The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
37 - even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before The LORD.
38 - But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
39 - Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40 - They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised: for we have sinned."
41 - Moses said, "Why now do you disobey the commandment of The LORD, since it shall not prosper?
42 - Don't go up, for the LORD isn't among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies.
43 - For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword, because you turned back from following The LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you."
44 - But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of The LORD's covenant and Moses didn't depart out of the camp.
45 - Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

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Numbers Images and Notes

The Book of Numbers

Numbers 14:14 - And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for] they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud standeth over them, and [that] thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Bible Survery - Numbers
Hebrew Name - Bemidhbar "in the wilderness"
Greek Name - Numbers "numberings"
Author - Moses
Date - From 1490-1451 BC Approximately
Theme - The Journey to the Promised Land
Types and Shadows - In Numbers Jesus is the Pillar of Cloud by Day and the Pillar of Fire by Night

Photo of the Sinai Wilderness
Photo of the Sinai Wilderness

Summary of The Book of Numbers

The book of Numbers takes its name from the account of the census that happened two times among the congregation of Israel in Numbers 1-4 and Numbers 26. The Greek title was used even though there is really no connection with the "numberings." The original Hebrew title which means "in the wilderness," is much more accurate, because the book of Numbers is it's really an accurate history of the events that happened during the period of wandering in the wilderness and not necessarily a book about statistics. The book of Numbers seems to follow naturally after the book of Leviticus in the order of the books of Moses in the Old Testament. After the children of Israel received the laws at Mount Sinai, they began the journey as described in the book of Exodus, and they were ready to march directly into the land of Canaan. The book of Numbers reveals how the children of Israel became prepared, and went to various trials, and how they were sinful in not trusting the Lord. Their sinful ways resulted in 37 years of wandering through the harsh wilderness. The book of Numbers concludes with the children of Israel once again at the edge of the land of Canaan, where they received instructions for the conquest of Canaan and the division of the land.

Quick Reference Map
 Map of the Route of the Exodus
Map of the Possible Route of the Exodus (Click to Enlarge)

The principle divisions of the book are as follows:

Outline of the Book of Numbers

1) The preparation for the departure from Sinai (1:1-10:10). The events described here took place in nineteen days. In this time a census was taken of all men who were over twenty and who could serve in military efforts (1-4). The total obtained was 603,550 (1:46). This would indicate that the total population of the group was probably near three million. The census was followed by the cleansing and blessing of the congregation (5-6), the offering of gifts from the various tribes (7), the consecration of the Levites (8) and the observance of the Passover at Sinai (9:1-14).

2 ) The journey from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea (10:11-14:45). This section includes the account of the coming of the quail (11), the rebellion against Moses by Miriam and Aaron (12), and the fateful mission of the spies (13, 14).

3) The wanderings of the desert wilderness (15-19). As noted above, this covered a period of thirty-seven years, from the end of the second to the beginning of the fortieth year in the wilderness. Ch. 15 includes various laws and a record of capital punishment for Sabbath breaking. The rebellion of Korah (ch. 16) and the budding of Aaron's rod (ch. 17) are also mentioned here.

4 ) The history of the last year, from the second arrival of the Israelites at Kadesh till they reach "the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho" (20-36: 13). Notable sections of this are the story of Balaam (22:2-24:25), the zeal of Phinehas (ch. 25), the second census (26:1-51) , instructions for dividing the land (26:52-27: 11), the appointment of Joshua as Moses' successor (27: 12-23), various laws concerning offerings and vows ( 28-30 ), the war with Midian (ch. 31), the settlement of the tribes east of the Jordan (ch. 32), a review of the locations at which Israel had camped during their wanderings (33: 1-49), more instructions concerning the conquest and division of Canaan (33:50-34:29 ), the appointment of the cities of refuge (ch. 35) and instructions concerning the marriage of land-owning Israelite women (ch. 36).

ARCHAEOLOGY

Ancient Bronze Snake

Bronze Snake from Lachish

Bronze Snake from Lachish, Late Bronze Age

Quick Reference Maps - Numbers

The Exodus of the Hebrews

Mount Horeb

The Red Sea

Canaan Before Joshua

Kadesh barnea

Moab and Ammon

 

Numbers Resources

The Wilderness Wanderings

More About the Book of Numbers
Numbers in the Picture Study Bible
Timeline of the Ancient World
Back to the Old Testament
Back to Bible History Online
 

Bibliography Information

Free Bible Online - Picture Study Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: www.free-bible.com, 1995-2013. Bible History Picture Study Bible. Nov 25, 2024.

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